Efforts to overcome the severe degradation of land resources supporting agriculture and human communities continue to be constrained by institutions and social norms. The knowledge needed for a transition to sustainable agricultural landscapes through institutional change is inadequate. A collaboration between specialists in economics, politics, sociology, ecology and soil science at the University of New England, the Institute and various groups of graziers and irrigators on the New England Tablelands and Murray-Darling Basin catchments analysed the transitions to a common-property resource CPR institutions for collective decision making, resource allocation and adaptive learning strategies of such groups. The work took a 'New Institutionalist' approach to building new theoretical and applied knowledge of CPR arrangements. This project and the 'Tilbuster Commons' project made a distinctively Australian contribution to international efforts to understand such transitions, and served as a model for progress towards sustainability elsewhere.

The University of New England respects and acknowledges that its people, programs and facilities are built on land, and surrounded by a sense of belonging, both ancient and contemporary, of the world's oldest living culture. In doing so, UNE values and respects Indigenous knowledge systems as a vital part of the knowledge capital of Australia.